


The Wonderful Angelica

by plasticineking



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Affairs, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 09:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6418135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plasticineking/pseuds/plasticineking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You know Angelica?" He spluttered, leaning forward on the table, catching his eyes. Jefferson grinned, leaning forward in return.</p>
<p>"Intimately," his reply caused Eliza to cough a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wonderful Angelica

**Author's Note:**

> Obv. it's not confirmed whether Jefferson and Angelica had an affair (a v.similar relationship via letters to what she had with Hamilton, I guess) - artistic licencing - and if they did Angelica would not have been so obvious to write about it to her sister (that is obv. conversations saved for summers back in NY), nor Jefferson so bold to talk about it so casually... but for the sake of this story, that is exactly what happened. Alexander gets a little honest. Burr is the angel that Eliza didn't realise she needed (I also killed poor Theo off earlier than she actually died, fiddled with Hamilton children's timeline - made it closer to the musical era I suppose, considering they were implying only Philip and Angelica existed by the 1791 era when by then they had like, 1000 children, horny toads).

Alexander understood his wife better than almost anyone, he'd wager. Eliza wore her emotions plainly and hid nothing. Especially from him. 

 

So, when she explained to him that they were inviting (well that they actually had invited) Thomas Jefferson to dinner, he was silent - gaping - for a few seconds before spluttering at the ridiculousness of her thinking. 

 

"It's time to grow up, Alexander, you don't have to like him but you do have to work with him and it would make everyone's life easier if you didn't declare a war on him every cabinet meeting."

 

She hadn't allowed him to reply to that, sweeping out of the room with the elegance and grace he loved about her. 

 

She definitely won that round. 

 

(And the next few rounds when he would try - and fail - to convince her to change her mind). 

 

\--

Two words came to mind as Alex silently seethed at the dinner table. Charming and flirting. Eliza was all but enamoured by Jefferson, smiling and laughing on cue, but as genuine as he expected her to be.

 

As she always was. 

 

"You know my sister speaks fondly of you, Thomas," the shock of Eliza's words caused Alexander to flounder, bringing his attention to him for the first time in almost ten minutes.

 

"Sister?" 

 

"Ah, the wonderful Angelica," Thomas confirmed, answering Eliza but focussing on Alexander, "I have only fond things to say in return." 

 

"You know Angelica?" He spluttered, leaning forward on the table, catching his eyes. Jefferson grinned, leaning forward in return.

 

"Intimately," his reply caused Eliza to cough a little. Her sister had confessed all to her - Eliza wasn't going to judge her sister as long as she was happy - but she hadn't expected Jefferson to be so crass with Angelica's virtue.

 

"Mr Jefferson," she chastised, placing her utensils down on her plate, giving her best angry mother glare at him. He leant back, dropping his smile and bending his head in apology. 

 

"I apologise, Mrs Hamilton, she spoke so candidly about family I forget that we all aren't," he shot Alexander a look that clearly screamed 'well except for you'. 

 

"It's quite all rig-" 

 

"She never mentioned you to me in our correspondences," Alex started up again, unable to place the feeling in his stomach. 

 

"Funny, she didn't mention you either," he replied, trying to brush him off. 

 

Alex sat back in his seat before leaning forward again, "Angelica and I are close, I can't believe that she would get involved with someone like you and not inform me of such a development."

 

"I didn't realise that you spoke like two old maids, Hamilton."

 

"That's not even slightly what my relationship with Mrs Church is and you know it," he almost growled it. 

 

Jefferson laughed to himself, "I actually don't because like I said she never mentioned you."

 

"To do this to John, can you believe that your sister would do that?" Turning to Eliza he was surprised to find her laughing, "Eliza, what has come over you?"

 

"Come over me?" Shaking her head she pushed her chair back, "you know, Alexander, I cannot help but wonder if your anger comes not out of loyalty to John but out of a heartbreak that if Angelica were to go against her wedding vows with someone it would not be with you." She allowed s second for her words to hit before turning to Jefferson, "I apologise for the direction this evening has gone, I find myself void of an appetite. I hope we speak again, Mr Jefferson." 

 

Standing she didn't turn to look at her husband, leaving the room and eventually the house itself. 

 

\--

 

"Woah," Jefferson had never seen the talkative Hamilton silent for so long, he didn't speak as he got up from the table and poured a small dash of port into two glasses, "Hamilton have you lost your ability to talk?"

 

Sitting back at the table, with suspiciously wet eyes, Alexander glared at Jefferson pushing the tumbler to him. 

 

"I think... I think my wife has had me pegged from the beginning," his voice was hoarse, shaking his head he knocked back the whole drink, grimacing.

 

"You and her sister?"

 

"It's not..." pausing he debated, "nothing leaves this room."

 

There was another pause. He was appealing to Jefferson as a man of honour - when he wasn't entirely sure he could ever be called that. 

 

"Okay," Jefferson nodded slowly, "but not because of you, but because of her." He added hastily. Hamilton bit at his lip, looking downcast and it was obvious that Jefferson’s words hit a part of him. 

 

(Because, God, Eliza deserved better than ever thinking she was in someone's shadow)

 

"When I first met Eliza... There was, I thought that maybe something... Angelica and I had a connection and then she introduced me to Eliza but the connection..." Gulping he looked down at the table, "it fizzles out, I don't spend my days longing for her letters but when I receive them I am reminded."

 

"She's too good for you," Jefferson practically spit the words, for a moment Hamilton thought he meant Angelica - which would be true - but with the shake of his head the bitter sound to his voice Hamilton couldn't help but nod. 

 

He managed to fall for two Schuyler sisters, fool one enough to marry him (love him, give him a family). 

 

"I want her to never have cause to worry about my feelings towards her," he admitted, looking back up at Jefferson. Standing the man shrugged a response. 

 

"Stop pining over her sister would be a start," Jefferson turned to walk out of the room, "this was fun, we should do it again. Maybe next time you treat your wife like shit, I can show her how it feels to really be loved." 

 

The chair Hamilton was sitting on flipped onto its back as Hamilton stood angrily, "how dare you e-"

 

"Save it, Hamilton," Jefferson turned and walked out of the room, "you gotta make up to your wife, don't waste your energy." With that Jefferson left, and Hamilton realised that Eliza hadn't returned.

 

He was alone. 

 

\---

 

It was getting dark, there was a chill in the air and Eliza found herself cursing as she stormed through a local park. There were a few groups of families or young lovers strolling through exiting to return home but she walked towards a new wooden bench that rested to the side of a field. 

 

She wasn't alone for long, however, despite longing for the solitude. 

 

"Mrs Hamilton?" the ever polite Aaron Burr stood all in black (as he had been ever since the death of his wife months previously) a confused smile on his face. 

 

"Mr Burr, Sir," she couldn't help but pick up some traits off Hamilton over the years, and smiled to herself. 

 

"May I?" Motioning to the seat beside her she nodded and shifted to give him more space, "if you pardon the intrusion, what are you doing in this park at this late hour without a chaperon?"

 

"I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, Aaron, I do not need a man accompanying me just like you do not." 

 

There was a tense moment of silence before Burr apologised, "I am sorry for making you think I believed you did, but it is unusual. I often walk through the park since..." trailing off his words caught in his throat – he often found himself wondering if it would ever, _ever_ get easier?

 

"Aaron, pardon my attitude," she looked down, "it has been a troublesome day and you seem to be the unfortunate one that is bearing the brunt of it." 

 

"I don't mind, if you pardon my forwardness, you are looking lovely in the evening dusk," he gave her a knowing look and she laughed, moving to take one of his hands in hers, "has Hamilton been the cause of your unease?" 

 

"It's my own self-consciousness," she paused, "I know that he and my sister, Angelica, have always had a bond that I have not been privy to, but there was a conversation today that just...made me doubt my whole relationship with him."

 

"Angelica is very beautiful, intelligent, kind, an enchantress to many people..." Burr started, a wistful look on his face. 

 

"Thank you, Aaron, I am very much aware of my sisters many virtues,” Eliza laughed, despite everything she wasn’t envious of her sister, as much as she was in awe of. Always one to outshine others in the room, she often found herself wondering if Angelica would be the one to make the history books instead of her husband. She is interrupted from her thoughts as Burr talks again, his voice soft.

 

" _You_? You have the biggest of hearts, the softest and prettiest of faces - not faltering even after the children and marriage to Hamilton - your eyes are so full of feelings and if they are truly the windows to the soul then you have the deepest most fulfilling souls I have had the pleasure of knowing." 

 

"I..." Her words caught in her throat, eyes watering, "that was possibly the sweetest, and most...I don't know what to say."

 

"I didn't say it for retaliation, Elizabeth, but because it was true," he paused, looking at their joint hands, "Hamilton may never be satisfied with what he has because he always believes there's more around the corner...and that he won't live to see, but I believe that he does not for one moment take you and your unfaltering love for granted, lest he be more of an idiot than I ever thought."

 

"You're a good man, Aaron Burr," Eliza whispered, squeezing his hand before pulling back, "I know we haven't really seen much of you since Theo's passing, you should come to dinner."

 

"I will, I will..." it was a heavy lie, not worthy of being spoken but out of respect - if he had wanted to come to dinner it would have been because Eliza invited him over the desire to spend extra time in the company of Hamilton. 

 

"I hope yo-"

 

"Eliza!" across the field, decked in a long black coat, looking frantic Alexander called for her even as he could obviously see where she was sitting. 

 

"Hark, a herald," Burr commented, causing Eliza to chuckle even as she stood to greet her husband, resisting the urge to roll her eyes (or look adoringly) at him when he grasped both her hands in his and brought them to his lips, resting his forehead about them muttering apologies. 

 

"Hamilton," Burr alerted the man to his presence, feeling his cheeks heat up at the intimate scene before him. Jumping back slightly, he dropping to holding just one of Eliza's hands making eye contact. 

 

"Burr, Sir," he half bowed, mockingly, "do you often accompany my wife on her evening strolls?" 

 

_If you were home more often you would realise that she doesn't usually go for nightly strolls, idiot._

 

"It is the first time I have encountered Mrs Hamilton on one of my regular walks," he paused, "I offered her a kind ear to talk to."

 

"Really?" Looking back to Eliza, he stood closer to her but didn't take his eyes off him. 

 

"Indeed. Updating me on the situation of Philip and young Angelica, enquiring after my daughter," he took a second, "all trivial to you I bet."

 

Scoffing, "I find the lives of my children are hardly trivial, if you pardon, my wife and I are going to have a quiet night in front of the fire, I hope you enjoy the rest of your walk." Dropping Eliza's hand he brought it out of Burr to shake which he did happily before dropping it, turning and taking Eliza's hand in his bending to kiss the back of it, squeezing and letting go.

 

"A pleasure as always, Eliza," smirking he turned to Hamilton and nodded before walking down the opposite direction he came in.

 

\--

 

Eliza turned to her husband and could see the obvious question he was debating the pros and cons of voicing. 

 

"Please think very carefully before you open your smart mouth, Alexander," she warned, starting a swift walk down the stone path. 

 

Hamilton stood a little dumbfounded for a moment before running and catching up with her, "I wasn't going to say anything."

 

Laughing Eliza linked her fingers with his, "I highly doubt you were going to remain silent."

 

"Well, no, but I was weighing my options. I admit to being perplexed by Burr's presence but..." He stopped them walking, pulling a little on her hand, "I feel like I should apologise."

 

"Yes, probably but I wonder if you have any idea why," tilting her head she took her hand out of his, folding her hands over her stomach, a little chilly, "I have accepted that I will never be Angelica, in the eyes of my family, in your eyes, but I thought I was...enough." 

 

"No, Eliza... It- you can't possibly think you're not enough? You're everything. You, Philip and little Angelica...everything." His words were so genuine to her at that moment, she felt the familiar prick of tears behind her eyes – even when in the throes of emotion his words had the ability to hit their mark. She, however, had a few chosen words that should prove to get a reaction too, despite her somewhat lesser intelligence.

 

"You missed one..." She trailed off and her own eyes drifting down towards her stomach. 

 

As smart as Hamilton was, it took him a disgustingly long time to connect the dots, a smile almost splitting his face as he dropped to his knees before her. Eliza found herself laughing despite the dramatics as he pressed a kiss to her clothed middle. 

 

"Alexander, rise up, if anyone were to see you now they'd think you'd gone mad!" Pulling under his armpits he almost jumped to standing 

 

"I am mad! Mad with love for you, my Betsey!" He let out a laugh, kissing her almost too passionately for such a public area, "Three times we have been lucky, when there was a time I would have never believed even once. I don't deserve you, Eliza." His words were achingly sincere and she felt guilt, for a moment, for agreeing mentally.

 

She remembered what Burr said, tears pricking her eyes, "We are both blessed. I know I was from the moment you walked into my life."

 

He could never promise that he wouldn't hurt her again, that he wouldn't be the cause of her biggest heartaches in her life but he could promise that he would love her until his dying breath and beyond.

 

So he did. 

\--

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote all of this in one go on the way home from a trip away. Mistakes are my own. Loving Eliza like it's a competition is not a mistake nor is it something I can stop. Lord help me.


End file.
